The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil

 

 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. 

 

- John 7:1–13 

 

Yesterday we read that many of  Christ's disciples, when they heard Jesus speak of eating His Body and Blood, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

 

  After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  The next section of John's Gospel (7:1-10-21) speaks of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.  The whole section covers eight days of the festival.  The setting is now the final year of the life of Christ.  My study bible comments that during this festival, Jesus taught in the temple and attracted a great deal of public attention.  It says that some thought Him mad (verse 20), others believed He was the Messiah (verses 31, 40), and yet others (such as the leadership of the Pharisees and Sadducees) thought He was a threat (verses 32, 45-52).  The Jews who sough to kill Him, once again, are the religious leaders who feel He is a threat to them, and not the Jewish people in general.  We must remember that Jesus, His disciples, who include the author of this Gospel, and all those to whom He goes and who listen to Him preach, are Jewish.  The Feast of Tabernacles (Hebrew succoth, sometimes spelled as Sukkot) is an eight-day autumn harvest festival.  It commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, a time when the people lived in tents (or tabernacles).  Together with Passover and the Old Testament Pentecost it was one of the three most important festivals of the ancient Jews.  It included many sacrifices and celebrations (Leviticus 23:33-43).  In later times, my study bible adds, the final day of the feast included drawing water from the pool of Siloam, to be mixed with wine and poured at the foot of the altar.  This was both a purification and done in remembrance of the water flowing from the rock struck by Moses (Exodus 17:1-7).  Moreover, it included the lighting of the great lamps in the outer court of the temple.  Elements of each of these events of the festival will be referenced in the preaching of Christ. 

His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.   Across the Middle East still today, the word brother is used to refer to extended family, including cousins.  In the historical understanding of the Church, Mary had only one Son, and Christ had no siblings.  These brothers are either step-brothers by a previous marriage of Joseph, Jesus' earthly guardian, or cousins.  Jesus' time is the time of His Passion.

But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.  Not openly, my study bible explains, means without a grand, public entrance, such as will happen on Palm Sunday (12:12-16), when Christ's time has come.

 

 Today's reading tells us something about Jesus' personal struggles that we don't necessarily find in other Gospels.  Jesus' own family does not believe in Him.  At least His extended family is taunting Him in today's reading.  They ridicule Him as the religious leaders will later do.  I think this is quite an important element, as it shows us something about the struggle for a spiritual life in the world.  Jesus' response to them characterizes their understanding as "worldly" in that sense.  He says, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."  Jesus is not responding to the lack of belief of His brothers as some sort of personal problem among them in the family, but rather puts this as a spiritual problem.  Their identification is with "the world" but Christ calls testifies that the works of the world are evil.  This is a profound spiritual split, not simply a problem among brothers or family or any other type of nominal social group.  It is an invariable difference regarding an attitude to what might be commonly accepted but is nevertheless evil.  It is, in fact, an issue of the Cross, and where the Cross may come even between brothers.   In the Letter to the Colossians, St. Paul writes, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."  He writes of Christ "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (see Colossians 2).  In other words, the Cross calls out the truth of the world, exposing evil and bringing it to light.  It is the Cross that overshadows this passage, even as Christ says that His time has not yet come.  John's Gospel concerns itself with light and darkness -- especially with the rejection of the Light, and the nature of darkness to seek to hide (see John 1:1-18).    In the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes in what we might call very Johannine language about light and darkness.  St. Paul advises them to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light" (Ephesians 5:11-13).  In the following chapter, St. Paul writes in terms of battle, about taking up the whole armor of God, and that the battle is really a spiritual one, in which this armor is truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, salvation, Scripture, prayer and supplication, the help of the saints and the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:10-20).   In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus speaks of this sword He brings that will come between family members (see Matthew 10:34-36).   For monastics, these issues of separation from the world, within so many levels of life and even in personal relations, would become a crucial issue of following the Lord.  For us laypeople, we may also find such issues appearing in our lives, with our faith in Christ seemingly leading us through fissures in our nominally good and desired relationships.  Let us remember that all of this is in the way of the Cross, and that it is essentially a spiritual battle -- not a personal or political or social one -- that we are drawn to as faithful.  Let us remember the armor and weapons named by Jesus and St. Paul, and put on the whole armor of  God.  We should not be dismayed or surprised at the places the Cross may take us, for so went Jesus before us.  But we should remember that we are in a long walk somewhere, a journey of faith, toward that end where all things are reconciled in Him.